274 Memoir of the late George Tate, by Mr R. Middleman 



extended under the clay * Mr Tate published his observations 

 in the "Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalist's Club," in 

 the year 1849. He extended them in a lecture, afterwards 

 delivered before the members of the Alnwick Mechanics' 

 Institute. This discovery of polished and scratched rocks was 

 very important when viewed with reference to the Boulder 

 Clay; for this formation has presented a problem which is only 

 being gradually worked out. The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 

 acting under suggestions made by Mr Milne Home, is en- 

 deavouring to preserve the Boulders of Scotland from removal 

 or destruction, so that proper evidence of this period may not 

 be destroyed. After his retirement from business in the year 

 1855, he commenced a tour, which extended from the Vale 

 of Whittingham to the river Tweed ; — ground often before 

 traversed by him, but this time with the special object of 

 examining that group of rocks lying between the Red Con- 

 glomerates and Mountain Limestone, and to which he in 

 1856 applied the distinctive term " Taedian," "because they 

 are so largely developed on the Tweed ; and because the 

 general conditions of the period as indicated by the mineral 

 character of the strata, and by the organic remains found in 

 them, are different from those of the Mountain Limestone, 

 with which they had been previously grouped." In the year 

 1857, Mr Tate made a geological tour from Bowness to 

 Wallsend, in the line of the Roman Wall, for the purpose of 

 examining the strata of its site and neighbourhood. The 

 lovely scenery which he traversed, and the kindness and 

 hospitality of friends, rendered this journey thoroughly en- 

 joyable. His antiquarian and geological knowledge was 

 brought into full play ; he made a careful survey, and after- 

 wards condensed and published his observations, at the 

 request of his friend, Br Bruce, in his celebrated work, the 

 " Roman Wall." 



The " Proceedings of the Berwickshire Club " contain the 

 best record of the geological labours of Mr Tate. We find 

 in his writings the most minute details and comprehensive 

 accounts of the geology of the several places visited by the 

 Club. We see the assemblage of facts and petty circum- 

 stances, under the magic influence of his scientific mind, 



* Mr W. K. Loftus, in the year 1845, had noticed polished and scratched 

 rocks of the same Limestone formation at Belsay, which he attributed to 

 diluvial action.— Transactions Tyneside Club, vol. I., p. 273. The mirror 

 like polish is now considered to be the result of ice action. 



